Ship fender



E. F. MAAs SHIP FENDER Origin l Filed Jan. 8, 1934 Jan. is, 1938.

l lllllqlllll |l Patented Jan. 18, 1938 SHIP FENDER.

Elov F. Maas, Cuyahoga Falls, Ohio, assignor to Wingfoot Corporation,Wilmington, Dell, a corporation of Delaware Originial applicationJanuary 8, 1934, Serial No. 705,749. Divided and this applicationOctober 17, 1936, Serial No. 106,205

9 Claims. (Cl. 114-219) The present invention relates to an improvementin marine fenders and it has particular reference to such fenders whichare used for protecting the sides of a ship from injury in the event ofcontact or collision with other marine structures, such as piers,break-waters, canal locks and the like. They may be used on piers,break-Waters, etc., or on the ship itself.

This application is a division of my applica- Fig. 4 is an end elevationof the device shown in Fig. 3;

Fig. 5 is an enlarged longitudinal cross sectional view through thedevice shown in Figs. 3 and 4 taken substantially along the line 5-5 ofFig. 4 showing the means for attaching the supporting means to thefender proper; and

Fig. '6' shows somewhat the action which takes place when the marinefender is compressed betion 705,749 filed Jan. 8, 1934, for Marinefender; tween a ship and a pier or the like when the ship Prior to thisinvention, several types of mais docking or is thrown toward the pier bythe rine fenders have been proposed, but they have waves. I beenobjectionable for several reasons. Most of It will be noted from aninspection, particu them have been too rigid and unyielding to givel'arly of Figs. 1, 2, 3, and 7', that the tubular body the necessarycushioning effects, and some have l5 of flexible material, such asrubber, has a rela- 15 been too costly because of complicated structuretively large inner diameter so that the same may and difiiculty inapplying. The present invenbe compressed appreciably and give aresilient tion, however, overcomes the objectionable feaaction whichprevents the fender from being tures of the prior art and provides afender of pounded to pieces, as would an ordinary solid extremesimplicity in construction and one which member. 20 may be easilyinstalled or applied. In Figs. 1 and 2 this tubular member, of which Animportant object of the invention is to prothere may be one or moreprovided on any given vide a marine fender which will be formed ofstructure, is shown as being provided with tacushioning material,preferablyresilient rubber, pered plugs 29', which may also be formed ofand so arranged as to be flexible throughout at rubber and provided withlongitudinal bores 30 25 least the major portion of its length. for thepassage of the flexible supporting cable Another object is to provide amarine fender l6; A substantially cylindrical metal bushing 3| whichwill be not only formed of yieldable mateis anchored in the outer end ofeach of the tarial, but which will be yieldably supported so as peredplugs 29, said bushing-being centrally bored 30 to be capable ofcomplete bodily movement when in alignment with the bore 30 toaccommodate '30. necessary. the cable Hi. In this construction thecushion- Another object is to provide such a fender ing properties ofthe rubber are augmented by which will be capable of movement bothhorithe air which is confined within the tubular zontally andvertically, and this without likelimember [5 so that this particularform of fenhood of the cushioning material being torn away der is infact of the pneumatic type. Yet it is 35 from its supporting means.suspended in such a way as to be bodily movable An important object ofthis invention is to proalong the cable and to be rotatable thereabout,vide supporting means on a fender which is seso that when a ship is at apier with the fender curely locked in place with respect thereto, thebetween the ship and the pier or the like the 40 supporting means beingadapted to be secured fender may rotate about a substantially horizon-40 either to the ship or to the pier, break-water or tal axis as theship rises and falls with the swells, the like by a suitable fasteningmeans. and. may also slide longitudinally along the cable The foregoingand other objects, features and in the event that the ship moves in thatdirecadvantages of the invention will be readily appretion or during thetime when the ship is docking.

ciated from the following description in conjunc- In some installationsit might not be desirable 45 tion with the accompanying drawing, whereinto employ the longitudinally extending supportseveral forms of theinvention have been shown ing member within the rubber cushioning tube,by way of illustration, and wherein: and in that event a structure asshown in Figs.

Fig. l is an elevational view of a marine tender 3 to? inclusive may beemployed. Here the cushembodying my invention; ioning tube 15 rsprovided in one of its side walls 50 Fig. 2 is an enlarged longitudinalcross-secwith a plurality of relatively spaced anchoring tional view ofone end of the marine fender plugs 33 having their Outer SurfacesCorrugated shown in Fig. 1; or otherwise roughened and molded in place,

Fig. 3 shows a modified means for supporting whereby to be well bonded.Each of these anthe marine fender; choring plugs 33 is formed with adove-tail socket 55 ends by means of a staple 40 embedded in con;

crete. Obviously, any other form of fastening means may be used for thispurpose: As the ship moves toward the pier, as'in Fig. 7, the tubularmember I5 is compressed and substantially entirely flattened out sothat, there is no opening,

interiorly thereof, although ordinarily therubber in the fender issufficiently thick so that the fender is not completely flattened outbut retains some of its original shape. In the event that a structuresuch as shown in Figs. 1 and 2 is employed, the compression of therubber fender is not as complete as that illustrated in Fig. 7, due tothe solid portions provided at the end of the fender. The advantage ofthe constructions shown in Figs. 1 and 2, however, is that,since thereis very little air that can escape through the bore if the fender issufficiently. compressed, the air within the fender is confined and actsas an additional cushioning means for resisting the flattening of thefender itself. I

From the foregoing it will be understood that a novel marine fender hasbeen providedwhich will be capable of absorbing shocks incident to thecontacting of a pier by a ship and thus :protecting the sides of theship frominjury. The construction is extremely simple and capable ofbeing produced at relatively low cost as wellas being capable of easyinstallation. The fenders need not necessarily be employed upon a fixedmarine structure, but may be used to equal advantage when suspended atthe side of a ship, and in this respect the term marine structureflhasbeen employed in the specification and claims in its broadsignificanceto include either a fixed structure such as a pier or thelike, or a movable structure such as a shipor equivalent. Furthermore,the fenders are not limited to use in a horizontal position, but may besuspended vertically or otherwise as desired. Obviously the inventionmay be modified in respect to details other than those specificallyillustrated and de scribed, and the right is herein reserved to makesuch changes as fall within the scope of the appended claims withoutdeparting from the spirit of the invention.

Having thus fully described my invention, what I claim and desire tosecure by Letters'Patent of the United States is: l

1. A marine fender comprising an elongated tubular member of resilientmaterial having an internal air space therein of substantialproportions,and a plurality of suspension means anchored at intervals in one sidewall of said tubular member but not extending through said space to theopposite wall for securing the same to a pier or the like.

2. A marine fender comprising anelongated tubular member of resilientmaterial having an internal air space therein of substantialproportions, a plurality of anchor plugs embedded at intervals in oneside wall of said tubular member but not extending through said space tothe opposite wall, and means secured to each of said anchor plugs forsuspending said tubular member from a pier or the like.

1.3;.Alrharine' fender comprising an elongated tubular member ofresilient material having an internal air space therein of substantialproportions, a plurality of metallic plugs molded at intervals into oneside wall of said tubular member but not extending through said space tothe opposite wall, and'means secured to each of said anchor plugs forsuspending said tubular member from a pier or "the like.

4. A .marine fender. comprising an elongated tubular member of resilientmaterial having an internal air space therein of substantialproportions,,a plurality of metallic anchor plugs vulcanized at'intervals in one side wall of said tubular member but, not extendingthrough said space to the opposite wall, and means secured to each ofsaid anchor plugs for suspending said tubular member from a pier or thelike.

5. A marine-fender comprising an elongated tubular member of rubberhaving an internal air space therein of substantial proportions, aplurality of metallic anchor plugs having ribbed rubber contactingsurfaces molded at intervals in one side wall of said tubular member butnot extending through said space to the opposite wall, and means securedto each of said anchor plugs for suspending saidtubular member from apier or the like. v

6. A marine fender comprising an elongated tubular member of resilientmaterial having an internal air space therein of substantialproportions,a plurality of metallic anchor plugs molded at intervals in one sidewall of said tubular member but not extending through said space to theopposite wall, said anchor plugs each having a socket therein, and meanssecured in said sockets for'suspending the same from a pier or the like.

7. A marine fender comprising an elongated tubular memberof resilientmaterial having an internal air space therein, and a plurality ofmetallic anchor plugs molded'at intervals in one side wall of saidtubular member, said anchor plugs each having a socket therein providedwith undercut walls, and means interlocked with said sockets forsecuring the same to a pier or the like.

8. A marine fender comprising an elongated tubular member of resilientmaterial having an internal air space therein, and a plurality ofmetallic anchor plugs molded at intervals in one side wall of saidtubular member, said anchor plugs each having a dovetail socket providedtherein, and a plurality of cables each having a frayed end fixed in oneof said sockets by a solidified low melting point metal, for securingthe same to. a pier or the like. g

9. A marine fender comprising an elongated tubular member of resilientmaterial having internal air space therein, of a plurality of anchoringmeans molded in one side wall of said tubular element and suspensionmeans associated with said plurality of means for suspending the tubularelement from a pier or the like.

ELOV F. MAAS.

